Jess and Leslie Sugar Baby Love
by G-Matt
Summary: Jesse and Leslie notice that everything is not quite the same anymore. Something has changed... But what?
1. An Eventful Morning Part 1

Attention readers! This is not _my_ story. Freestyler75 wrote this BTT fan fiction story in Finnish, and I've taken the liberty of translating it for all of you who don't understand Finnish. This story will have five chapters.

**Jess and Leslie – Sugar Baby Love  
Chapter 1: An Eventful Morning Part 1**

_Original story by: Freestyler75  
Translated by: G-Matt_

Disclaimer: Neither Freestyler75 or I own _Bridge to Terabithia_

It was a beautiful Saturday morning and Jesse Aarons was excited. Ms. Edmunds, the music teacher, had just called and asked him to go to the museum with her. Just the thought of being alone with the divine Ms. Edmunds for hours made his head whirl unusually. It was going to be an unforgettable, unique day. Jesse still found it hard to believe the whole invitation was even true.

At the same time though, the events of the day before ran through Jesse's mind. Somehow he had felt strange when he and Leslie separated in the pouring rain that evening. Her wave in the middle of the rain had stuck in Jesse's mind so that he even had had trouble falling asleep. Somehow Leslie had looked so…_different_. However Jesse didn't want to think about that right now because today it was time to enjoy Ms. Edmunds' company – as strange as the thought sounded. But this teacher was unlike most teachers usually.

Jesse grabbed his coat from the rack and rushed outside. The teacher's car had already arrived at the end of the road and Jesse took a few running steps. He looked at the Burkes' house and he began to wonder for a moment. Should he invite Leslie after all? In a way maybe he should – but on the other hand – he would see Leslie every single day anyway, whereas he wouldn't get invitations like this from Ms. Edmunds so often. And somehow, admittedly the thought of the _three_ of them in a museum didn't sound so fascinating to Jesse at all. He hoped Leslie would understand that she wasn't asked to come with them this time.

Jesse opened the car door excitedly and greeted the teacher nervously. "I'm glad you made it. Didn't waste my tickets", the young woman answered smilingly and started the car. Then she started to turn to the main road until suddenly there was a weird bang.

"What in the world?" Ms. Edmunds wondered and stopped the car. After stepping out of the car they both noticed that the front tire had deflated.

"Oh, no", Ms. Edmunds fretted. "This trip is not going to happen now. We can't get far with my spare tire. I'm really sorry, Jess."

Jesse tried to hide his disappointment but it was difficult to do so. _Just my luck_, he complained in his mind and looked at the flat tire with a gloomy expression. He should've guessed that this was too good to be true.

All of a sudden Jesse saw movement from the corner of his eye and turned around. Leslie Burke in her colorful outfit was just coming down the steps of her house and, after noticing her best friend at the end of the road, started to walk toward him. _Oh, no._ Suddenly Jesse felt embarrassed and wished the ground would swallow him. How on earth would he now explain this situation to Leslie? And especially the fact that he hadn't invited her to come with them? There was no way out now anyway.

"Hi Jess!" Leslie yelled in her happy, radiant way. Then she noticed the teacher. "Oh, and hi Ms. Edmunds! What are you doing here?"

Ms. Edmunds explained the situation and pointed at the flat tire. Leslie looked at her, looking surprised, and then gave Jesse a sly glance.

"Ah-huh… Well maybe if I get my Dad to help changing the tire?" Ms. Edmunds also thought it was a nice idea and soon Leslie returned with her father. Prince Terrien had now joined them too.

Jesse thought it would be better to leave the situation with Leslie and face her awkward questions without any delay. "Thanks for the invitation anyway, Ms. Edmunds", he said and left the teacher and Bill Burke with the car. "Better luck next time!" Ms. Edmunds nodded.

Jesse, Leslie and Prince Terrien started to walk slowly back towards Jesse's house. "Well, wasn't that a real shame, huh? A thing like that", Leslie said sympathetically while holding back a smile. At the same time, though, she tried to swallow a tiny feeling of disappointment about Jesse not having asked her to come. "Shall we go to Terabithia?"

"Uh… I guess we could", Jesse answered uneasily while avoiding eye contact with Leslie. He hoped there would be no more discussion about the museum topic but he knew it was no use hoping something like that. Leslie would surely make the most of this delighting situation and also undoubtedly grill him about why she wasn't invited.

"So you had a date with the teacher, huh?" she grinned. Jesse tried his best to explain the situation but his effort was cut unfortunately short as his face went bright red – and of course Leslie noticed that. She pushed her friend teasingly.

"Oh, boy, what do we have here? Looks like someone has got a _really_ big crush on Ms. Edmunds", she said laughing and ran away.

Jesse dashed after her. "I'll get you for this!" he yelled.

Jesse had a real trouble keeping up with her as usual. Halfway however, Leslie's pace got a bit slower so that Jesse caught her in the middle of a large, down-sloping field. Leslie's teasing words still echoed in Jesse's mind, so after reaching his friend he grabbed her arm so that both fell and rolled down the sunny field with Leslie screaming and laughing. Eventually both were lying on their backs on the grass, out of breath. P.T. panted near them and sniffed around.

Then Jesse invented a clever way to avenge her friends teasing and change the subject. "All right, now there will be a test", he started in a solemnly formal way. Leslie was looking at him in amazement and wondered what he was up to.

"All of Terabithia's royalties must pass this test", Jesse continued. "Because now we'll test…if the Queen of Terabithia is ticklish in her armpits!" At that very moment Jesse dashed at Leslie like a flash without her managing to protect herself.

"No, Jess! Stop!" Leslie started to scream while trying to fight back. At the same time she was also quite surprised about Jesse's relaxed and bold behavior. What had happened to _him_? After a few tries Jesse stopped his attack and both lay on the grass again, looking at the blue sky. Leslie, however, didn't want to let Jesse get off the hook yet and turned to face him.

"Hey Jess, isn't she a little too old for you?" she said with a mischievous grin on her face. Jesse thought for a moment how to get back until he came up with an idea. He decided to play the game too, attack being the best form of defense.

"What do you mean? How come does it concern _you_ that much? Is somebody a bit jealous now perhaps?"

Then Leslie snatched determinedly a tuft of grass and threw it fiercely on Jesse's face.

"Hey! I am not, stupid!"

Jesse laughed while watching his friend who now seemed to have had enough about this subject – at least for now. Leslie started to scratch her dog that had climbed to sit atop her, and twisted her face trying to imitate the face of the tongue-hanging fur nose.


	2. An Eventful Morning Part 2

**Jess and Leslie – Sugar Baby Love  
Chapter 2: An Eventful Morning Part 2**

_Original story by: Freestyler75  
Translated by: G-Matt_

Disclaimer: Neither Freestyler75 or I own _Bridge to Terabithia_

Thanks to the rain, the water in the creek had risen higher on than the previous day and the current made quite a lot of noise already. Jesse watched the flowing water, looking suspicious.

"Hmm… I wonder if this is so safe anymore", he started to ponder.

"Now don't be crazy", Leslie answered. "Of course it is. Our feet just touch the surface, that's all, and then we'll be on the other side. It's so simple."

However Jesse wasn't as convinced of it as Leslie was. The agitation of the flowing water made him feel anxious. Leslie had already grabbed the rope, however, and prepared to swing herself to the other side.

"Hey wait!" Jess shouted suddenly. "What if I go first this time – just in case?"

Leslie gave a bit mocking laugh. "Why? There's no danger."

"I mean it, Leslie", Jesse continued and held out his hand so that Leslie would give him the rope. She was amazed at his request.

"Why, isn't the King of Terabithia suddenly so knightly", she said after hesitating a little and gave him the rope. "Go then if it's so important."

Jesse stepped on the tree trunk while holding the rope and looked at the flowing water below and the opposite bank in front. He twitched the rope a couple of times, gave a glance at his a bit amazed friend and then jumped. Leslie expected to see her friend at the opposite bank as usual – but that didn't happen, though. Instead there was a crack-like sound and all of a sudden the rope and Jesse were nowhere to be seen. P.T. started to bark wildly.

"Eek! Jess!" Leslie screamed in alarm. She looked down at the flowing water but she saw nothing. "Jess, where are you?"

Leslie dashed quickly a few meters away to a spot where the bank was gentler, went down into the cool water and started to wade toward the middle of the creek. There was a lot of water but her feet still reached the bottom.

"Jess! Jess?! Where did you go?!" she shouted with concern in the middle of the roaring water but she still saw nothing. "Jess!" The answer was still nothing but noise everywhere. No sign of him was seen. "Jess, show yourself right now!" Leslie was now choking back tears and her voice was broken. "Jess!"

Suddenly, to her great relief, she saw Jesse's dark hair rising from the water. Quickly, Leslie started wading toward him but then she tripped over the stony bottom, hit Jesse and knocked him again under the water; at the same time dipping herself almost completely too. Jesse rose from the water again, coughing and spitting water from his mouth.

"Are you going to drown me?" he managed to say in the middle of coughing. Leslie, shaking with shock, didn't laugh. She took Jesse by the hand and helped him get back on shore.

After getting on dry land Leslie, with tears in her eyes, started to hug her friend tightly. "I got so scared when I first didn't see you at all" she said to Jesse's ear with a trembling voice. "I thought you sank straight to the bottom. You have no idea how much you scared me, Jess!"

Jesse felt her still shaking with fear – although probably the trembling was partly caused by the cool water. "Hey, I am fine", Jesse said, a little baffled from the hug. "I just wish you don't squeeze me to death!" Leslie, now feeling a bit relieved, eased her grip but she still held onto Jesse's arms and looked seriously at his face.

"I really am OK, Les!" Jesse assured and wiped a few drops of water from her cheek. From that Leslie got a small smile of relief on her face.

"Come on now, let's go home quickly and change into something dry before we catch a cold", Jesse said and he didn't need to tell Leslie twice, as she was shivering. The soaking wet clothes gave them a surprising amount of speed.

The front door of the Burkes' house banged loudly as wet Leslie came inside. She hoped she would have gotten unnoticed in the bathroom to take off her wet clothes and to take a shower, but that wish proved to be useless – she immediately met her father in the hallway, and it wasn't hard to guess what his first question was.

"Leslie! What in the world has happened? Why are you soaking wet?"

"Well, there was only a little accident at the creek, my foot slipped and I fell in the water", Leslie answered. "Now I have to go quickly to take a warm shower and put something warm on."

"You didn't hurt yourself?"

Leslie shook her head and kicked her wet shoes from her feet.

"Hmm… An accident, huh… What was this museum thing, by the way? Why didn't Jess ask you to go with him?" Leslie felt a bit hurt inside. _You can say that again_.

"Well, I don't know. I guess Ms. Edmunds didn't have more tickets or something", Leslie made up and then went to the bathroom.

Being soon in the embrace of the warm water, Leslie was annoyed that her father had brought up the museum subject again; the slight pain caused by the subject had already been almost forgotten thanks to the events in the morning. But still, it hadn't been like the end of the world. You could go to the museum any time so it wasn't a big deal – but still she had been a bit disappointed in Jesse. On the other hand what did such a thing matter anyway; who knows if Jesse might have even saved her life by insisting on crossing the creek first.


	3. The New Invitation

**Jess and Leslie – Sugar Baby Love  
Chapter 3: The New Invitation**

_Original story by: Freestyler75  
Translated by: G-Matt_

Disclaimer: Neither Freestyler75 or I own _Bridge to Terabithia_

At the same time, as Leslie was taking a shower, Jesse was doing the same thing. He had managed to sneak in the house and into the bathroom without getting noticed and after quickly taking off his wet clothes, he stepped in the shower. There he could think a little about the phases of the eventful morning. The fast "flight" alone was already quite unusual of course, but now he had something else on his mind. Leslie's reaction at the shore of the creek had surprised him quite a lot. And now, the more he thought about it, he began to realize a few things about the relationship between him and Leslie.

In his mind he yet again went over how Leslie had almost cried and clung to him like a limpet. And then Jesse realized: Goodness, here was a person who really _cared_ about what happened to him. A person who _was afraid that something awful might happen to him._ That was something new. He, the class outcast, might've cut his head earlier and nobody would've gotten worried or dropped their jaw. And his family, well of course they would always be supporting him when it came to the crunch, but in normal life they hardly ever showed any warmth, caring or love, in a visible way at least. His big sisters particularly thought he was nothing but a nuisance and he wasn't his father's favorite child either.

Little by little, Jesse started to realize how much the girl next door really cared about him and he was almost touched by that. In his mind there was even a deep gratitude that this person had come to his life. But at the same time Jesse also started to feel guilty – he had decided not to invite a worthy friend like her to the museum just because he wanted to be alone with his teacher. Soon he started to feel like a total selfish idiot. Jesse decided that somehow he needed to make this up to Leslie – and the sooner the better.

In the afternoon the Aarons' phone rang. May Belle answered and asked Jesse to come on the phone. "Jess, your girl's on the phone!"

This time Jesse didn't care about his little sister's teasing and quickly went to the phone.

"Leslie?"

"Hi Jess. My parents are going into town in the evening to see a movie and have dinner. Will you come to my place so we can do something?"

"Okay, sure, as long as I get my chores done first."

"Great. See you soon", Leslie hung up.

May Belle had been listening to the conversation. "Are you going to the Burkes' today? I wanna come too!"

"Sorry May, some other time."

"That's not fair! You never take me anywhere!" May Belle protested and sat down on the armchair with her arms crossed. "Besides, what are you gonna do?" Then something occurred to her and she declared in a loud voice: "Oh, but of course, you're gonna be _kissing_! That's why you don't want other people there to disturb!"

Before Jesse managed to comment on his little sister's claim in any way, one of his big sisters, Ellie, heard May Belle's words and she had something to say about the subject as well. "You heard her, little boy! Take it easy now with that blonde of yours or else you know what's gonna happen – Mom can't take care of a sixth kid anymore!" Brenda's laugh accompanied Ellie's teasing.

Jesse was snorting with anger from his sisters' words but he decided to be quiet as usual. He didn't want to start a fight over such a thing, but went out to do his chores banging the door. May Belle didn't understand her sister's comment at all and ran after her brother.

"What sixth kid?" she asked Jesse.

"Nah, forget the whole thing. Sisters are always talking nonsense. And we are not gonna be kissing by the way. I promise you can come with me next time." May Belle seemed to be feeling better. She was Jesse's favorite sister anyway and Jesse didn't want to upset her so much.

"Hey Jess, don't leave your chores unfinished like last time!" his father suddenly yelled around the corner.

"No, I won't, Dad", Jesse sighed.

May Belled watched her brother, looking serious and sad. She also felt that Jesse wasn't always so happy. And so it was, while even now rattling the tool shed Jesse felt once again so fed up and depressed. Cleaning the shed was such hard work, which was so painful – and he hardly ever was praised for doing the job. But _fortunately there was Leslie, after all_!


	4. Having Fun

**Jess and Leslie – Sugar Baby Love  
Chapter 4: Having Fun**

_Original story by: Freestyler75  
Translated by: G-Matt_

Disclaimer: Neither Freestyler75 or I own _Bridge to Terabithia_

Towards evening Jesse rang the Burkes' doorbell and Leslie opened the door smilingly. She was wearing a dark red shirt with some kind of a black eagle design, and brown striped corduroys with lots of small pockets. And of course she had striped elbow-socks on her arms.

"Oh, you brought your sketchbook?" Leslie asked after noticing Jesse's load.

"Yup, I got this idea and I thought I'd carry it out today."

"Oh… What did you think you could draw?" Leslie got excited while hanging Jesse's coat on the rack.

"Well, I'll tell you in a minute…"

"Hmm…okay… Hey, do you want some pizza? We've got lots of leftovers."

That sounded good for Jesse, because the vegetable soup made by his mother hadn't given him such a full stomach and all the chores afterwards had been much for him. There was a healthy amount of pizza and Greek salad. Also, Jesse got to drink a lot of coke, because it wasn't often found at home. In the end, thanks to all the coke, Jesse burped a little.

"You pig!"

"I'm sorry", Jesse said, feeling embarrassed. "You see, I'm just a simple country boy." That made Leslie laugh.

"Can we go to the living room so I can show what I had in mind?" Jesse suggested. Leslie nodded while taking the dirty dishes from the table.

"Where's P.T., by the way?" Jesse asked. "He would be needed now."

"I think he's sleeping in his basket. Wait while I go wake him up." Soon Leslie returned to the living room with her sleepy fur ball. Jesse had already placed his sketchbook and pen on the table.

"Okay, now sit down in that armchair."

"Oh, you're going to draw me and Prince Terrien now? Hmm…why not, as long as it doesn't take all evening", Leslie grinned.

Leslie sat in the armchair with her legs crossed and the sleepy P.T. lay down on his mistress' legs. Jesse started to work, carefully sketching the outlines and then focusing especially on Leslie's face. After about a half hour the drawing was nearly finished.

Leslie began to get tired of posing. "Jess, my legs are going to sleep! Is it ready soon?"

"Finished!" Jesse announced and carefully ripped his work from the sketchbook and handed it to Leslie.

"It's… Wow, it's great. Heh, you have enlarged my eyes a little. But you've really got talent. May I keep this?"

"Of course you may. That was the whole idea."

"Thanks, Jess", Leslie said and touched his arm. "I'll ask Dad if he can frame this."

Jesse laughed. "Well, I don't know if it's worthy of doing _that_."

Leslie poked her friend. "Hmph, you're so modest. Hey, come on. I wanna show you something."

Leslie took Jesse by the hand and led him downstairs. After walking through a couple of short corridors they entered a tiny back room in the basement.

"Whoa, a ping-pong table", Jesse said, getting excited.

"Yeah, here I play ping-pong with my Dad every once in a while. Wanna play?" Leslie asked with a challenging face while flourishing a bat.

"Well, sure", Jesse shouted and snatched the other bat at the end of the table. Soon however, Jesse started to regret his enthusiasm because he hadn't been able to guess that the girl next door was quite competent at this sport. Again and again Jesse returned Leslie's serves embarrassingly straight into the net and started to get frustrated.

"Man, how do you serve? Why does this happen every time?"

"Spin, Jess, spin", Leslie laughed. "You gotta return this spin in the right way. Otherwise my spin draws the ball down into the net when you touch it."

Jesse was starting to feel embarrassed, having to get beaten by a girl in ping-pong! But, ominously, that was going to happen. Leslie bounced and kept Jesse on the run just like she wanted and clearly also seemed to enjoy the situation. The final score was an overwhelming 21-5. Jesse decided to give up and sat down to rest in a funny ball chair in the corner. The chair seemed to be from the 70s.

"Oh, come on, Jess… You can't give up _right away_", Leslie coaxed. "Or is Jesse Aarons a bad loser?"

"I am not! You're just so much better that I don't like to play so much."

"You just need to practice a little. I can teach you sometime", Leslie said smilingly from behind the table.

Jesse noticed that next to the ball chair there was a small shelf with a few photo albums. He took one of them in his hand and started to browse through it to pass the time. There seemed to be quite old pictures in the album. While Jesse was browsing, at the other end Leslie tried to juggle with the ping-pong balls with bad success. The balls fell on the floor again and again.

Suddenly Jesse let out a triumphant laugh. "Now, what do we have here? A nude photo! Yes!"

Leslie screamed and rushed quickly to Jesse. "Oh, my God! Show me! What?! Where?!" Jesse was looking at a picture with little Leslie, maybe about six or seven years old, completely naked next to a small plastic pool in the front lawn. "Oh, no! Give me that! _Don't look at it!!_" Leslie screamed, totally blushed. "Give me that right now!"

Jesse was extremely excited about his find and he would've liked to tease his friend for a little while longer by holding the album, but then, however, he decided to give it to Leslie.

"Okay, okay… But hey, it was a cute picture…and I have seen naked little girls at home before. When you've seen one, you've seen them all!" Jesse laughed. Leslie stood still with her face bright red and held the album nervously. For a moment she felt like right now she was as naked as in the picture and therefore she didn't know how to be in front of Jesse's searching eyes.

Jesse grinned. "So…do you still practice nudism today, Miss?"

Then Leslie attacked Jesse in a frenzy of playful rage and started to hit him in the head with a ping-pong bat. "You Peeping Tom!" she screamed while Jesse tried to dodge her blows as best as he could. Soon the situation turned into nothing but a wrestling match until the whole chair was going to fall and both of them were laughing uncontrollably. Finally Leslie rose from the chair and sat down on the edge of the ping-pong table for a moment to cool down.

"Would you make room for me there so I can tell a bit about these photos?" she suggested then.

"Make room _in this_? There's no way two people can fit in this space thing!" Jesse wondered.

"There's enough room if we squeeze up", Leslie stated self-confidently and started to push herself backwards in the chair next to Jesse. And because the chair was shaped like it was – bending to both sides – forcibly they huddled and together side by side. _Ungh, is this the reason why Leslie insisted on sitting here_, Jesse thought, feeling like sardine in a can.

"Ow, my arm hurts!" Jesse fretted as his arm was squeezed in between him and Leslie.

"Well, hey, just do this", Leslie advised and grabbed Jesse's arm, moving it behind her shoulder. Then she smiled sweetly at Jesse and his heart took a couple of extra beats; such a pretty intimate position shocked him a little and he got nervous. Soon he started to get used to it and after a few minutes he was there like at home – Leslie even smelled _so_ good…

During the next hour, and maybe over, Leslie showed the photo albums to Jesse. There were pictures of Leslie father and mother as kids and youngsters, wedding pictures, pictures of Leslie when she was little (this time Leslie censored every nude photo that came along), pictures of Leslie's cousins, their old house and other things. In the end Jesse started to yawn. Leslie got tired of watching photos too and dropped the album on the floor. To pass the time she then put Jesse's foot between her feet and started to play with it.

After a moment of silence Jesse suddenly remembered what he had thought about earlier in the shower. Now it was time gather up his courage and clean his still a little bit bad conscience.

"Hey Les, I'm sorry I didn't ask you to come with us this morning."

Leslie turned towards Jesse and smiled warmly. "Forget the whole thing, Jess, it doesn't matter. Besides, I kinda do realize that you wanted to go alone with Ms. Edmunds since she is…you know, your favorite."

"Nah, well, I don't know if she is in that way…" Jesse said.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of, Jess. A year ago I had this really lovely male teacher at my old school. I always stared at him in a complete trance in the front row. He was about thirty."

Jesse laughed. "No kidding?"

"Yeah. But then since I was a total idiot, I went and opened up to my Mom about it and she put me back in reality very quickly. Just think about it. When you're 18 years old, Ms. Edmunds will be over thirty and surely married. End of story."

"Yeah…it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. But how can you help it that she's got…something."

Leslie poked Jesse on his nose with her index finger. "Jess, you should start looking at girls of your age!" Now it was Jesse's face's turn to change color and of course Leslie was enjoying.

"Hey there, fire truck. Do you want some ice cream?"


	5. The Sign of a Special Relationship

**Jess and Leslie – Sugar Baby Love  
Chapter 5: The Sign of a Special Relationship**

_Original story by: Freestyler75  
Translated by: G-Matt_

Disclaimer: Neither Freestyler75 or I own _Bridge to Terabithia_

As it was getting dark, it had started to rain and the patter carried faintly into the Burkes' large, spacious living room. A cozy fire was sparkling in the fireplace and a few candles had been lit in the living room. Jesse and Leslie had just made big portions of chocolate ice cream for themselves, and there was quite a job in eating them. Now and then Leslie pointed out to Jesse how the tip of his nose was covered in chocolate.

Of course the Burkes didn't have a television but they did have high-quality hi-fi equipment and quite a line of CDs in the living room. There were even lots of old LPs. Jesse examined the family's record collection while eating. "I see your parents like a bit older music", Jesse noticed while browsing through the titles. "There are only a few newer records."

"That's true", Leslie answered from the couch. "And now lately they've started to learn those old dances too. Sometimes a couple they know comes to visit us and they crank those twist songs and whatever else here on the "dance floor" for hours. It looks pretty embarrassing, by the way. I guess they're living their second youth or something like that. Or well, the twist was probably popular long before my parents' youth.

"Put something on", Leslie continued. "On the top there should be a pretty good collection CD burned by my Dad."

Jesse put the disc in the player and looked at the track list. "The performer of the first song is a…The Rubettes."

"Oh yes, this is awesome!" Leslie got excited and began to sing along the song. "_Sugar baby love, sugar baby love, I didn't mean to make you blue… _Such a wonderfully happy and carefree song!" Leslie started to dance with her dog to the beat of the song by holding his front paws.

The sight amused Jesse and he also got into the catchy song. "Hey Les, is that really a _man_ who sings with the high voice in the background? By what means is he able to produce such a shrill voice?"

"Heh, yeah, it truly is a man", Leslie answered while still dragging along P.T. that seemed to be totally confused from his mistress' actions. "He sings falsetto. Those old songs have quite a lot of that. Hey, now comes this _supposedly instructive_ speech part."

Leslie repeated along the song while lowering her voice: "_People – take my advice – if you love someone – don't think twice._"

Jesse laughed. "I see you've also been listening to these songs since you know these lines by heart."

"Well, you can't avoid it too much since they're playing so often in here. And now, somehow, I've become a bit interested in them myself. Just leave that CD playing. Dad has put a lot of good songs in it."

Leslie let her dog go and P.T. dashed quickly into another room. Apparently he hadn't really cared about Leslie's dancing play. Then Jesse went to sit back on the couch with Leslie. At the same time Leslie noticed that Jesse felt a bit sore in his back while sitting down.

"Did you get yourself hurt today after all? Well, no wonder after that 'flight'. Or what's wrong with your back?"

"I don't think so, I don't think it's because of that. I think it got sore while I was cleaning my Dad's shed. The shelves are in such a terribly inconvenient place that my back and shoulders don't like that position at all. Especially when I often have to do it for two-three hours in a row, I'm so sore all over afterwards. Such a slave duty", Jesse panted.

"Hmm…I see… Sit down on the floor", Leslie pointed her finger at her feet. "Here I give my parents a massage every time when their shoulders are sore from all the continuous sitting in front of the computer terminal. And sometimes they massage me too. It's very relaxing and it makes your blood circulate."

Jesse liked the sound of her idea and sat down on the floor. Leslie's thin, supple fingers started to go through his sore shoulders and neck. "These really do feel quite stiff", Leslie estimated like an actual experienced masseuse. "Does this hurt?"

"No…or maybe a little but go on, it feels good", Jesse enjoyed.

After massaging Jesse's shoulders for a while, Leslie continued her treatment: "Okay, now you can lie down on the floor on your stomach."

Jesse wondered what would happen next but, however, he lay down on the floor. Leslie went down on her knees next to him and first started to pound her friend's back with her arms. Then she carefully moved on her knees on Jesse's upper back and carefully moved her legs on it. "Ow, are you gonna mangle me to death?!" Jesse howled.

"Heh, no, I'm not. I do this to my Dad every now and then… But, then of course he's quite a lot bigger than you so my weight might be a bit too much for you." Then Leslie stood up and helped Jesse get up.

"Thanks, that made me feel a lot better", Jesse said, feeling relieved. "You would be a great masseuse."

Then he looked at the clock. "Oh gosh, it's pretty late already. They're probably starting to wonder soon at home why I've been here so long. I guess I must be going so I won't get into trouble", Jesse stated in a bit low spirits.

"W-Wait Jess!" Leslie eased. "There's still one more important exercise move to be done!"

"Oh. What's that?"

"Well, uh…I mean that…the shoulders need to be massaged from the front too", Leslie messed with her words and moved quickly to stand face to face near Jesse.

"Hmm…from the front? How?" There was skeptical surprise in Jesse's voice as Leslie put her hands on his shoulders.

"Like this."

First Leslie massaged Jesse's shoulders a bit but then started to move her hands carefully on his neck and finally behind his neck while moving closer to him. At that moment Jesse Aarons started to realize that now Leslie had something totally else on her mind than massage. _Help me._

"Jess…" Leslie started seriously and somehow a bit breathlessly. Jesse noticed that Leslie was a little nervous and he froze to the spot like a statue. _Oh, no, I can't do this, I can't…_

"…I wanted to do something when…"

Jesse swallowed and felt how his legs were starting to shake slightly.

"…you rose from the creek…"

And now the armpits are getting sweaty… _Mommy, help!_

"…but I didn't have time", Leslie almost whispered and was already a couple of centimeters away from Jesse's face.

It was now clear to Jesse what was going to happen. His suddenly _so_ friendly best friend came closer and closer, millimeter by millimeter… First she touched Jesse's nose with the tip of hers and quietly brushed it a few times…until, after what had seemed like an endlessly long wait, she let her lips lightly touch Jesse's lips.

_Mmm…chocolate ice cream._

There was nothing for dumbfounded Jesse to do but stand stiff and feel Leslie's soft "chocolate lips" press against his own and feel their shape. To his amazement he noticed how a weird built-in mechanism activated and made him wrap his arms firmly around Leslie's slim body. At the same time he felt the fiery pounding coming from her chest – or was it in his chest?

About ten seconds passed – which seemed like an hour to both of them – until their lips and faces slowly separated. Then the CD player started to play _Blue Eyes_ by Elton John.

_Blue eyes, baby's got blue eyes, like a deep blue sea, on a blue blue day…_

They were facing each other again. Leslie, with a serious look on her face and without spoiling the moment, looked deep into Jesse's eyes, and he danced with her as if in a trance. When Leslie noticed Jesse's halted look, which had now changed to admiringly calm, a new kind of smile formed on her face. Then she pressed her cheek against Jesse's and started to give him a tight hug. This probably wasn't considered the last slow dance of the night, because the first dance hadn't been danced – but that's what it felt like, after all.

_Blue eyes, baby's got blue eyes, like a clear blue sky, watching over me…_

After the song ended, Jesse and Leslie stayed perfectly still for a moment. Leslie had tears in her eyes and she was glad that Jesse didn't see her face right now. As for Jesse, he smiled contentedly by himself in her warm embrace and couldn't believe what had just happened and what was happening. Of course he had expected that _sometime_ something like this _might_ happen, at _some_ point in the distant future… After a few _years_… But _now_ already… Oh, God, where he would still get into with this girl…

At that moment the front door opened. At lightning speed, in a split second, both Jesse and Leslie let go of each other and flashed quickly to sit on the couch as if they had sat there for even longer. Two seconds later Bill Burke stepped to the living room door. His wife Judy followed behind him.

"Hi kids! How has the evening been?" Bill asked.

"Er… It's been nice, Dad", Leslie cleared her throat and tried to find her normal voice. The couch was facing backwards at Leslie's parents, so they didn't see the kids' faces.

Bill sensed something unusual in the situation. "Oh. Well, why is it so dark in here? And the candles are burning?" he asked while he entered the room. "What have you been up to?"

"Just listening to music", Leslie answered and fingered the couch's joint part nervously.

Bill stepped further into the room. "I see. Well, what music?" he asked and reached down to look at the CD player's display. _Blue Eyes._

"Hmmm…" Bill observed the two strangely quiet figures sitting in the dark and was just about to turn on the lights in the room. But then Leslie's mother, who had been watching the situation, asked her husband to come to her while smiling cunningly. She whispered something in Bill's ear. Then Bill returned to the blurry living room and stopped beside Leslie. First he ruffled Leslie's hair a bit, and then he reached down to her ear and whispered something to his daughter. Leslie chuckled. After that Bill winked at Jesse, who had been observing the whole thing, and left to join his wife in the kitchen.

Both Jesse and Leslie thanked their luck that the bright lights hadn't been turned on in the room, because judging from their glowing, burning faces they were fiery red like crabs – and the revealing of that would've been simply _too_ embarrassing. After a moment however, Leslie found it safe to turn on the lights and Jesse was preparing to go home.

Bill once again returned as Jesse was putting on his coat. "Hey Jess, I guess you were sorry that you didn't get to the museum? Since you are a "budding artist" and so on… I was thinking that I could drop you off there sometime for a few hours and I could give you a ride back. Would you like that?"

Jesse got excited. "Of course! I mean, if Leslie comes along too", he quickly added.

Bill laughed and wrapped his arm around his daughter standing next to him. "I think that can be done – if you behave yourselves." Leslie smiled shyly and her cheeks turned a little red again.

Then Jesse wished the Burke family a good night and left. As he was walking towards home he turned to look at the house he had just left. A figure waved at him out the window. Jesse waved back. And a song was playing in his mind.

_Sugar baby love…_

**THE END**


End file.
